Wednesday, 4 February 2015

The Fabulous Elvis

Just over four and a halfdecadesago,
in April 1969, I was working at Caffyns in Eastbourne, when RCA
Records released Elvis Presley’s new album. On the day of release,
during my lunch hour, I walked into town and headed to the record
department at WHSmith, where they still had listening booths where one
could ask for records to be played without any intention to purchase
until the staff got irritated and chucked you out. By the time I got
there to listen to Elvis, the soundtrack album from his 1968
NBC-TV Special, there was only one copy left.

You wouldn’t
have to be reading Elvis Monthly or be among Elvis’s
community of British fansto
realise that the TV special had received unprecedented significance
in the music press and elsewhere.
Most of us had heard about it, which at the time, was being hailed as
Elvis’s comeback from his Hollywood years to once again retain his
position at the fore of popular music. Anyone who had seen his last
picture Speedway, would know and understand why every Elvis
fan and music journalist was genuinely excited about the special, and
why it was so important to see the show that had all America raving,
but what most couldn’t understand was why we had to wait over a
year to see it on British TV.

What was
perhaps strange is that when it did finally get an airing in the UK,
on New Year’s Eve 1969, with a title change to The Fabulous
Elvis, it was relegated to BBC2, which most people didn’t have
access to, as its 625-line colour broadcasts could only be received
on newer TV sets, so most people didn’t have it. I was living at
home with my parents at the time, and they certainly didn’t. Like
many other households in the UK at that time, our TV could only
receive black-and-white broadcasts for what, at the time, were the
two main channels, ITV and BBC1, which meant that not only did I have
to wait over a year before the Elvis special was broadcast, but I
wasn’t even able to see it when it was. I had to wait a further six
weeks after its showing on BBC2, until it was repeated on BBC1 on
Wednesday 4 February 1970 at 8.00pm. But why the hold up in showing
it in the first place! It seems Elvis’s manager, Colonel Tom
Parker, was partially to blame.

According to a
cutting in the New Musical Express on 1 March 1969, “There
are still no plans for the special to be screened in this country.
BBC-TV executives have expressed great interest in the show from the
outset - and because of the Corporation’s special relationship with
NBC-TV, asked to see a copy of the film, with a view to purchasing
British screening rights. However the copy has still not arrived in
this country. The NME understands that rights to the special
are held by Elvis and his management, and the delays in making it
available for world distribution is primarily the responsibility of
the Presley organisation. Meanwhile BBC-TV is maintaining its effort
to secure the film.” And then two months later, in May, the NME
ran a story that fans would definitely see the special sometime
in the near future. “Colonel Tom Parker revealed this week that he
has now signed the necessary clearance, enabling for it to be seen in
this country. Both BBC and ITV are interested in securing it, and
says the Colonel, the show will go to the highest bidder.”

In the end,
when the show finally made it onto BBC1, 45 years ago this week, it was
very exciting to think that after all the ifs, buts and maybes, I
would finally get to see it, along with the thousands of other
British fans, who either missed it when it was on BBC2 or couldn’t
watch it because, like me, their families didn’t have the right
kind of TV set. And in those days, before we had the luxury of video
recorders and Sky boxes, we couldn’t tape it to watch again later.
We would have to wait for it to be repeated and the likelihood of
that was, well unlikely.

I watched it
with my parents at home, on their old black-and-white TV, along with
my sister and her husband, and after the end credits had finished
rolling, I remember my dear late father saying, “Shame he didn’t
have guests on like Tom Jones does!” Quite disgusted with the
comment, I told him, I was now going to my room to play the album at
full volume, and was immediately asked why, “You have just watched
it on TV... don’t you think we have had enough Elvis for one
night!” Guess what my answer was!

ABOUT

I have been a published writer of biography for over 25 years writing about celebrities I admire and feel passionate about. The idea of this blog is to complement my website with posts on related topics that are not available on my site or elsewhere.